A number of reports have appeared, most by one person, that purport to show an ability to identify cancer patients by specific handwriting characteristics at a microscopic level, presumably evidence of neuromuscular dysfunction associated with cancer. The claimed power of discrimination was very high. Some questions about the possibility of non-blind experimentation left a cloud over the validity of the reported findings. This study was intended to test the claim with rigorous, blind analysis of handwriting samples, code-breaking done by persons other than the writing analysts, and between- and within- analyst reliability trials. The finding of 60 percent and 58 percent correct overall for 50 cancer and 50 non-cancer specimens were significantly different from chance (p less than .05) when chi squares for the two readers were added. However, the unreliability, both within and between readers, tended to nullify a conclusion of successful discrimination. Further, on a repeat trial with cooperative reading, agreement was reached in 72 out of 80 readings. The number correct (39) was not significantly different from chance. It is concluded that handwriting of cancer and non-cancer patients cannot be distinguished reliably in a general screening situation.